Research Questions

Ocean waves can be choppy and ships can be tossed back and forth making people seasick. Engineers devised a keel or bottom fin to help keep a ship from rocking back and forth.

Materials:

2 empty 2-litre plastic bottles (one will need a lid)

Sharp knife (for adult use only)

20 marbles

Rubber cement

Marker

Tape

Large tub of water, bathtub, or pool

Stopwatch

Paper

Pencil

Experimental Procedure

Gather the necessary materials.

Have an adult cut a rectangular hole in one of the plastic bottles. The hole should be about 6 inches from top of the bottle to bottom and 2 inches wide. When tipped on its side, the hole will be at the top of the boat. Leave the lid on the bottle.

Use rubber cement to adhere the marbles to the bottom of the boat making sure they are centered so that they don’t tip the boat one way or the other.

With the marker, draw a line lengthwise dividing the top of the boat and the bottom of the boat.

Place your boat in the water and make sure that it floats. Tilt the boat to the line you drew with the marker. Then release. Set the timer. Count the number of times the boat rocks back and forth until it stops. Stop the timer. Record the number and the time in seconds. Repeat the procedure two more times. Then figure out the average by adding

The data and dividing by 3 (the number of trials).

Make a keel using the other bottle. Have an adult cut the top and bottom off the other bottle. Then cut the remaining piece in half lengthwise. These two pieces will be used to make two bilge keels.

Fold each keel in half lengthwise and attach each to one side of the boat using tape.

The keels should extend out from the side at a 90 degree angle. You may need to trim the keels to fit your boat. Be sure that the keels are even on both sides of the boat.

Repeat step 5.

Analyze the data and draw a conclusion.

Terms/Concepts:Keel: a structural part of the bottom of a boat used to keep the boat from rocking back and forth buoyancy: the force that causes something to float; Ocean waves can cause a boat to rock back and forth. Bottom keels help to steady a boat.

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